The following is another installment of the Friday Church News Notes designed especially for use in churches. It is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES CONDEMNS “PROSELYTISM.” Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Representatives of liberal and apostate denominations from Eastern Europe meeting in Poland from Oct. 9-16 condemned “proselytism” and called for greater unity. The meeting was organized by the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches. One of the organizers was Jesuit priest Zbigniew Kubacki. There were representatives from many denominations, including Anglican, Baptist (shame on them!), Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed, and Roman Catholic. They claim that they are opposed only to “unethical proselytizing,” but in reality they are opposed to any attempt to convert someone who is already a member of a church, regardless of how false. Most of these denominations teach that a person becomes a Christian through “sacraments” such as baptism and confirmation. When someone preaches the true gospel and urges these unregenerate “Christians” to be born again in a scriptural manner, the ecumenical church leaders complain about “proselytizing.” The apostle Paul did not accept the Galatian judaizers as true Christians because they held to a false gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), and we must not accept those who hold to false gospels today.

RECLAIMING AMERICA CONFERENCE. Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Thousands of people attended the two-day “Reclaiming America for Christ Conference” on October 24-25 at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pastor D. James Kennedy is the founder of the Center for Reclaiming America. Kennedy admits that America’s moral freefall can be traced to the steps of the nation’s churches (Agape Press, Oct. 24). But he promotes a “new evangelical” type of ecumenism that is itself a large part of the problem. Dr. Kennedy frequently appears on the same platform with Catholic priests and other false teachers. He was one of the speakers for the April 1980 “Washington for Jesus” rally. Fellow speakers included Catholic priests John Bertolucci, John Randall, and Michael Scanlon. During the premiere broadcast week for the launching in 1986 of the Rock Christian Network, Kennedy appeared as a guest with Catholic priest John Bertolucci, and radical Charismatics Paul Yonggi Cho, Oral Roberts, and Demos Shakarian. In August 1988, Dr. Kennedy participated in the ecumenical Congress ‘88, in Chicago. Then Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, brought the opening address of the Congress. Dr. Kennedy participated with Pope John Paul II and others in the publication of a series of books on evangelism co-sponsored by Tyndale House and the Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association. Dr. Kennedy was one of the sixty ministers, including Roman Catholic priests, who gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., in July 1986, for the covenant signing ceremony for the Coalition on Revival (COR). COR signers made a commitment “to unity and to a ‘non-quarreling policy’ over doctrinal points such as eschatology, dispensationalism, Christian freedom, tongues, charismatic activity and evangelism” (Christian News, Sept. 12, 1988). In early May 1997, Kennedy featured Mother Teresa on his broadcast. The announcer for Kennedy stated warmly, “who better to speak on love than Mother Teresa.” Completely ignored was the fact that Mother Teresa was committed to Rome’s cursed sacramental gospel, praying to Mary, etc.

NORTH KOREAN OPPRESSION. Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Since the end of the Korean “conflict” in 1953, North Korea has been ruled by a Stalinist dictator and its people are complete slaves to the communist state. According to a recent report, there are an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people in “slave” camps in North Korea “where torture and executions are routine and many other inmates die of starvation” (“N.K. kills babies of women sent back from China,” The Korea Herald, Oct. 23, 2003). Another group of camps have been set up for North Koreans sent back from China, where they had fled in search of freedom from oppression. The communist Chinese government sends them back, and any of the women who return from China pregnant are forcibly aborted and their children murdered. These facts are from “The Hidden Gulag--Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps” by David Hawk, a former United Nations human rights investigator. The book contains satellite photos of the slave camps. Korean dictator Kim Il-sung died in 1994, and the country is ruled today by his son, Kim Jong-il. Every household in that nation of 22 million must prominently display a photo of the brutal dictator.

SEXUAL IDENTITY “HARD-WIRED” BY GENETICS. Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Reuters, Oct. 20: “Sexual identity is wired into the genes, which discounts the concept that homosexuality and transgender sexuality are a choice, California researchers reported on Monday. ‘Our findings may help answer an important question -- why do we feel male or female?’ Dr. Eric Vilain, a genetics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, said in a statement. ‘Sexual identity is rooted in every person’s biology before birth and springs from a variation in our individual genome.’ His team has identified 54 genes in mice that may explain why male and female brains look and function differently. Since the 1970s, scientists have believed that estrogen and testosterone were wholly responsible for sexually organizing the brain. Recent evidence, however, indicates that hormones cannot explain everything about the sexual differences between male and female brains. Using two genetic testing methods, the researchers compared the production of genes in male and female brains in embryonic mice -- long before the animals developed sex organs. ‘We discovered that the male and female brains differed in many measurable ways, including anatomy and function,’ Vilain said.”

BEWARE OF THOSE EARWORMS. Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The term “earworm” was coined by James Kellaris, professor at the University of Cincinnati, to describe songs that get stuck in people’s heads. He has done research into “earworms” since 2000 and has heard from people from around the world who confess that this is a universal problem. He has surveyed hundreds of people and has found, not surprisingly, that people who are constantly exposed to music suffer “earworms” more frequently. He has heard of “earworms” haunting people for weeks or even months and years. This reminds me of the children’s song which warns, “Oh, be careful little ears what you hear”!

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL FACES LAWSUIT BY HOMOSEXUAL STUDENT. Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from Religion Today, Oct. 24: “In Florida, a private Christian school is facing a lawsuit for expelling a student who admits he’s a homosexual. Eighteen-year-old Jeffrey Woodward claims theJupiter Christian School in West Palm Beach expelled him three days after he admitted to a teacher that he was a homosexual. Woodward says the teacher pulled him out of Bible class and asked him if he was homosexual. He says when he answered ‘Yes,’ a school official called his other and told her that Woodward could not attend an upcoming school retreat unless she and her son met with the school to talk about his homosexuality. His mother says the interdenominational school told them that Woodward could get counseling for his problem, voluntarily withdraw from the school, or be expelled. Now Woodward and his mother have filed a ‘breach of contract’ claim against Jupiter Christian. Even homosexual activists admit the school has done nothing illegal because Forida discrimination laws do not apply to private schools.”

PERSECUTION CONTINUES IN SRI LANKA. Friday Church News Notes, October 31, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is from ASSIST News Service, Oct. 23: “There has been a string of serious attacks upon Sri Lankan Christians and Sri Lankan churches in recent weeks. The perpetrators act with impunity. As such, there is little motivation to cease violent acts of religious hatred against Christians, and the violence is escalating. Four women from the Assembly of God church in Kotadeniyawa ... were abused and harassed by the Buddhist monk from the local temple, as they erected fence posts on the church property. That night some 30 men came and smashed the fence. When the men saw the four women they attacked them violently but were unable to rape them. In frustration they took the women to the police station and accused them of being prostitutes. The police charged the women with prostitution and forced them to face court. Sister Ayesha had to be hospitalized as a result of her injuries.”